WASHINGTON
-- Homeowners worried that new
federal flood maps will send their flood insurance premiums skyrocketing
would get some short-term relief under a provision tucked into a massive
government-wide funding bill.

But
other changes to the federal flood insurance program, including higher
premiums on businesses, vacation homes and frequently flooded properties
will remain in place, as well as a new rule blocking homeowners from
passing insurance subsidies on to the people who buy their homes.

The
provision is authored by Louisiana lawmakers and political rivals —
Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu and GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy — and comes as the
Senate is poised to debate much broader relief to homeowners facing higher
premiums. Cassidy is running for the GOP nod to take on Landrieu this
year.

The
move comes as the government is beginning to implement a significant
overhaul of the much-criticized program. That overhaul passed in 2012 with
sweeping support from both liberals and tea party conservatives but has
caused a panic in places like Staten Island, N.Y., and the New Jersey
coast and in flood-prone areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Florida,
where higher rates threaten to push some people out of their homes.

The
practical effect of the Cassidy-Landrieu provision is relatively limited
and can be added to the spending bill only because it does not increase
the budget deficit. It blocks the Federal Emergency Management Agency from
increasing premiums on people whose homes are not currently considered to
be in a flood zone but are deemed to be flood prone under new FEMA maps.

FEMA
has already agreed to delay the higher premiums in response to criticism
that the new flood maps didn't take into account longstanding locally
built levees and other flood mitigation steps and that the premium
increases are in many cases unaffordable.

The
broader bill that will be debated later this month in the Senate would
effectively delay the 2012 reforms for four years, a step that critics say
guts them because the 2012 law expires in 2017.

Some
of the most ardent supporters of delaying the premium increases are
conservative Republicans from Southern states, where the new rules have
sent some home values plummeting because of uncertainty over insurance
rates and because subsidized rates can't be passed along to buyers. New
flood maps threaten to saddle some homeowners who are paying a few hundred
dollars a year now with annual premiums of more than $20,000.

The
broader flood insurance bill has bipartisan support. It would delay the
new rates for homeowners facing higher rates when flood maps are updated.
But people with second homes or whose property has repeatedly been flooded
would still have to pay the higher rates, which are scheduled to rise by
25 percent a year until their premiums reflect the true risk of flooding.

"We
need to help those affected by map changes, but we also have to help those
who cannot sell their homes and those who followed all the rules and codes
when building their home," Cassidy said in a statement.

The
2012 law protected subsidies for people who receive them if their houses
hadn't been recently flooded, but does not allow them to pass them on to
the person who buys their home. This has led to a severe slowdown in many
housing markets. The broader legislation would allow them to transfer the
subsidy when they sell their home, thereby propping up home values.

The
underlying $1.1 trillion spending bill is set for a House vote on
Wednesday and Senate approval later in the week.